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\ REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE 
a AND EDUCATION. 
a eis as Berean CuHatrMAN; D. A. Hucues, M. H. Reyno tps, 
| .) GrorcE R. Wuite, ADoLPH EICHoRN. 
; % 
* REPORT BY LEONARD PEARSON, 


Chairman, Philadelphia. 


For the last few years your committee on Intelligence and 
Education has published statistical statements and descriptions 
of the work of the various veterinary schools in North America. 
These statements have furnished information that has been drawn 
from the catalogues of the various institutions, from replies made 
by representatives of the institution in response to inquiries from 
your committee and reports from members of this association 
appointed to visit the different schools. From the information 
obtained through these and other channels, each member of this 
association, and every progressive veterinarian of the United 
States, must have a fair conception of the quality of work that 
each school is prepared to do and he must be informed; in a 
general way, as to the kind of work that each school is actually 
doing. On this account no effort has been made to obtain and 
to detail statistical information in regard to the schools. In 
fact, it is scarcely possible to obtain information of real value, 
in addition to that which is already contained in the records of 
the recent meetings of the association, without going to the 
expense of sending around to all of the schools an impartial 
visitor. This expense your committee was not authorized to 
incur. : 

It is, therefore, assumed that the present status of the schools 
is well known to you. This assumption will obviate the painful 

qr* necessity of considering each of the schools separately, with the 

: view of pointing out its excellencies and its defects. Such a 

. duty would, indeed, be a painful one, because the defects so enor- 

mously outweigh the excellencies. Without entering, in this 

’ report, upon a criticism of individual schools, it is proposed to 

outline briefly the organization, equipment and budget of what 

might be termed an adequate veterinary school; that is to say, 

a school organized and equipped to conduct its work in a way 

that would adequately comply with the proper demands upon such 

an institution and thus to furnish a standard for measuring 
each school. 

gI 


Q2 Reports of Officers and Comanttees. 


The outline that follows is not utopian, nor is it even ideal, 
but it is intended to be of such a plain business-like statement 
as might be prepared in response to a request to furnish a sketch 
of what is needed in order that the veterinary sciences may be 


taught in an adequate manner and in a way that is proportionate — 


to the needs of the country and in harmony with the development 
of modern technical and professional schools. With such an out- 
line, each member of the profession can measure the efficiency 
of a given school, and the relative merits of different schools can 
be compared. 

A veterinary teaching institution may naturally be divided into 
three parts: : 

I. THe TeEacuine Bopy; Il. THe MateriaL EQuirpMENT; 
III. Tue Stupent Bopy. 

I. The Teaching Body.—The faculty and the subordinate 
teaching staff may be divided into natural groups according 
to the subjects taught. The following is suggested as an appro- 
priate classification of the subjects of instruction and, hence, of 
the work of the teaching body: 


ANATOMY MEDICINE 
PHYSIOLOGY HYGIENE 
PATHOLOGY SURGERY 


ANIMAL ENGINEERING. 


It is proposed that all of the various branches of instruction 
shall be grouped under the above general headings. In more 
detail the classification would be as follows: 

1. ANATOMY: 
Histology ; 
Embryology ; 
Biology ; 
Zoology ; 
Statics and mechanics. 
2. PHYSIOLOGY: 
Chemistry ; 
Principles of nutrition; 
Physiological action of drugs; 
Materia medica ; 
Medical botany ; 
Pharmacy. 


as 


Ld] 


Report of Committee on Intelligence and Education. 93 


3. PATHOLOGY: 

3 General pathology ; 
Special pathology ; 
Morbid anatomy ; 
Pathological histology ; | 
Postmortem examinations. 

4. HYGIENE: 

General hygiene ; 

Special hygiene, including immunity ; 
Bacteriology ; 

Meat inspection ; 

Milk inspection ; 

Dairy farm inspection ; 

Epizootiology. 

5. SURGERY: 

Surgical anatomy ; 
Surgical diagnosis ; 
Surgical pathology ; 
Operative surgery ; 
Horse-shoeing ; 
Obstetrics ; 

Clinics. 

6. MEDICINE: 

Physical diagnosis ; 
Laboratory diagnosis ; 
Principles and practice ; 
Special therapeutics ; 
Clinics. 

7. ANIMAL ENGINEERING: 
Animal production ; 
Breeds of animals; 
Breeding animals ; 
Judging animals; 

Stock farm management ; 
Hippology ; 

Meat packing and manufacturing ; 
Dairying, etc. 


For their full development, a large number of men could pro- 
fitably be employed in each of the above departments. It is not 
proposed to outline a classification to provide for research, but 


94 Reports of Officers and Committees. 


only for the practical work of veterinary teaching. With this 
in view, it appears that each of these departments should be 
taken care of by one professor and two assistants. This calls for 


a teaching force of 21 men. Undoubtedly, all of these teachers — 


should devote their best energies to the work of the school. If 
they were permitted to accept outside employment, it should be 
only in the line of the subjects taught and should be limited in 
amount. The professor at the head of each of these departments 
should receive a salary of not less than $3000 ($3000 to $5000) ; 
- the first assistant should receive a salary of not less than $1800 
($1800 to $2500), and the second assistant should receive a 
salary of not less than $1200 ($1200 to $1800). Therefore, the 
minimum charge for the salaries of the teachers in each of the 
seven departments amounts to $6000 a year. It is manifest that 
adequate work cannot be done for less, because it is impossible 
to conceive of the branches enumerated being properly taught by 
a smaller staff, no branch enumerated is superfluous and the 
salaries which form the basis of this estimate are minimum 
salaries, as measured by salaries now ruling for teachers engaged 
in more or less similar work in universities and agricultural 
colleges. 

II. Material Equipment.—An adequate veterinary college 
must have a school equipment and a hospital, or clinical, equip- 
ment. The school equipment must comprise facilities for teach- 
ing all of the subjects excepting clinics under the seven headings. 
This calls for classrooms, laboratories and illustrative material. 
In order that the work may be conducted without interruption 
and delay, it is necessary that separate facilities shall be provided 
for teaching the different groups of subjects. For example, in 
the department of anatomy there must be a dissecting room and 
one or more laboratories in which histology, embryology and 
biology may be taught. In the department of physiology, there 
must be one or more laboratories for practical physiology, chem- 
istry, toxicology and pharmacy. - In the department of pathology, 
there must be facilities for making post-mortem examinations and 
there must be a well equipped laboratory for giving instruction 


in pathological histology. In the department of hygiene, there — 


must be a laboratory for bacteriology and for teaching certain 
parts of meat and milk inspection. In the department of sur- 
gery, there must be ample facilities for clinical and for practical 
instruction. In the department of medicine, there must be oppor- 


Report of Committee on Intelligence and Education. 95 


tunity for clinical instruction and for laboratory instruction as 
well, in relation to clinical examination and the newer and more 
scientific methods of diagnosis. In the department of animal 
engineering, there must be a laboratory and work room where 
students may be drilled in the examination and classification of 
foodstuffs, and of the various animal products, and in the study 
and tabulation of pedigrees. In connection with hippology, a 
collection of the various kinds of harness, bits, saddles, etc., 
together with facilities for adjusting and for illustrating the use- 
fulness of the various constructions. In teaching the breeds of 
animals, the principle of breeding, judging animals, stock farm 
management, etc., it is difficult to see how the work can be done 
properly without the use of a well equipped stock and dairy farm. 

There must also be a well equipped library, and each of the 
departments will need to have its own museum collection. 

Without going into the details of the physical arrangement 
and the cost of such an equipment, which would depend largely 
upon local conditions, it may be said that the total cost would 
scarcely fall below $350,000. The cost of maintaining such an 
equipment and of supplying the various material needed for class 
instruction would amount, upon a minimum basis, to $33,000 a 
vear. This amount added to the teachers’ salaries makes a total 
of $75,000 a year as the least cost of maintaining an adequate 
veterinary school. 

III. The Student Body.—In order that the teaching that is 
here outlined may be taken advantage of, it is necessary that the 
students shall come to the school as well prepared educationally 
as are the sturents entering upon other lines of scientific work of 
college or university grade. The general standard for students 
entering upon work in medicine, law, engineering, agriculture, 
etc., throughout the United States, is the equivalent of a high 
school course covering four years. It would appear that such a 
standard might properly be accepted in this connection. If the 
standard of admission were lower, the grade of the work of the 
school would be cast upon too low a plane. If the standard were 
higher, it would be too far in advance of the generally accepted 
standard for technical colleges in this country. 

The duration of the course of instruction should be four years 
of nine months each. 

It appears, then, that a veterinary school must have an equip- 
ment that cannot be provided for less than $350,000 and that it 


96 Reports of Officers and Committees. 


must have a budget of at least $75,000 a year if it is to be pre- 
pared to teach the veterinary sciences as thoroughly as is required 
by the needs of the public and the student. Such a school could 
teach 200 to 300 students. 

At first sight, these estimates may seem to be large because, 
in this country, veterinary education has never been organized 
on anything like an adequate basis, and we have naturally fallen 
in the way of judging the subject by what we have, rather than 
by what is needed. If it is agreed that all of the subjects enu- 
merated are necessary in the equipment of a modern veterinar- 
ian—a man prepared to meet satisfactorily the technical demands 
that properly fall upon the veterinarian of the present day—and 
if it is admitted that teachers cannot be compensated for the 
services required of them at salaries less than those stated, and 
that the material equipment described cannot be restricted except- 
ing at the cost of efficiency, then it must be admitted that the 
total estimate is a minimum estimate of the cost of equipping 
and maintaining an adequate veterinary school. 

By using this outline as a standard, one can determine to 
_what extent the best of the American veterinary schools falls 
short of what is actually needed. In making such a comparison, 
however, it should not be based alone upon the budget of the 
school it is desired to measure, but rather upon the facilities for 
instruction and upon the actual grade of the work done, as com- 
pared with the work one could fairly expect from an institution 
organized in accord with the above outline. The reason for this 
is that some of our American veterinary schools are blessed by 
having among their teachers men who receive small salaries, 
or no salaries, but who work as faithfully and as diligently and as 
effectively as though they were receiving adequate compensation 
for their services. A man who does this, contributes, to the 
school, in effect, the amount equivalent to the difference between 
what he receives for his services and what they are worth. There 
are veterinarians, with the zeal of missionaries, who, in this way, 
contribute annually from $500 to $2,500 worth of services to the 
institution with which they are connected... If institutions are 
compared by their budgets, the value of contributions in service 
must not be omitted from the total of the income and disburse- 
ments of the institutions. 

The standard for a veterinary school as outlined is similar 
to the standard in most of the countries of continental Europe. 


Report of Commuttee on Intelligence and Education. 97 


Many of the European schools, however, have equipments far 
larger than the equipment here outlined, and their incomes are 
also much greater than here proposed. The equipment of the 
schools at Berlin, Hanover, Munich, Dresden, Buda Pest, Vienna 
and Alfort could not be duplicated in this country at an expense 
of less than $1,000,000 to $1,500,000. If European countries 
have found, after a century of experience, that these expenditures 
are justified, and they must have found that they are justified, 
because they are continually being increased, there can remain no 
doubt that similar expenditures in this country would be com- 
pletely justified by the results they would render possible. 

An argument of this sort is frequently met by the statement 
that one must not expect too much for “the veterinary sciences 
are young in this country’ and that we cannot be expected to 
have as complete institutions for promoting these sciences as 
exist where they are older. Such a statement is based upon a 
misconception of the facts. Science is international, it knows no 
political boundaries. The discovery of the tubercle bacillus is as 
old in the United States as in Germany, where the discovery was 
made. The facts of anatomy, of physiology and pathology are 
as old here as in their original homes, and so with all of the ele- 
ments that enter into the complex group known as the veterinary 
sciences. And since this is true of the parts, it is true of the 
whole. The veterinary sciences are of the same age in this coun- 
try as everywhere else upon the earth. It is only the public 
recognition of the value of the veterinary sciences that is young 
and immature. Closer attention, in the light of the above state- 
ment, will show that while the veterinary sciences in this country 
have the appearance of having the immature stature of a boy, 
in reality they are comparable to an illy-nourished, dwarfed old 
inan. The veterinary sciences do not lack age—they lack 
development. 


THE RELATION OF THE QUALITY OF THE FACILITIES 
FOR VETERINARY EDUCATION TO THE STATUS 
OF THE VETERINARY PROFESSION. 


In the long run, veterinarians will find themselves occupying 
the fields that they are better fitted to occupy than are men 
trained in other lines and in other schools. The future of the 
veterinary profession in the United States, as elsewhere, depends 


98 Reports of Officers and Committees. 


upon the ability of veterinarians to render useful and needed ser-. 


vice. If veterinarians aspire to any given field of work, it is 
necessary that they shall be the best equipped to occupy that field. 

It is illuminating but, at the same time, depressing, to run 
over the list of the seven departments of veterinary sciences, as 
given above, and inquire, as we proceed, how many American 


veterinarians are entitled to high rank in these various depart- 


ments, or their subdivisions. For example, in pathology, a sub- 
ject that underlies medicine, as anatomy underlies surgery, how 
many veterinarians in the United States are entitled to high rank? 
This field is the most important within the whole domain of the 
veterinary sciences, it is the one upon which the most typical and 
most important of our veterinary work pivots. The post-mortem 
work of the meat inspector is applied pathology, the diagnosis 
and treatment of diseases depend upon knowledge of pathology, 
the knowledge necessary for the recognition and control of animal 
plagues depends principally upon a solid foundation of pathology. 

If we search for the leading men in the bacteriology of the 
diseases of animals, how many do we.find in the ranks of the 
veterinary profession? 

Where do we find the most complete, the most reliable and the 
most practical knowledge of the principles and practice of animal 
nutrition, a department of comparative or veterinary physiology? 

Where do we find expert knowledge and professional skill 
upon subjects pertaining to animal husbandry and who are the 
recognized authorities in this field? 

If a national meeting is called for a scientific discussion of 
milk and dairy inspection, what percentage of the authorities on 
these subjects rank as veterinarians? If one searches the litera- 
ture for the solid facts upon the bacteriological, microscopic and 
chemical investigations of the milk supply, how many veterinarians 
does he find among the authorities of the first rank? If one 
wishes the best instruction in this field, would he go to a veterin- 
ary college—if so, to what one?—or would he go to a school in 
dairying in connection with an agricultural college? 

In meat inspection, the veterinary profession is confronted by 
one of the most important crises in its history. The Federal gov- 
ernment has increased its system of meat inspection until it 
now costs about $3,000,000 a year. The Federal meat inspection 
service covers less than one-half of the meat supply of the United 
States. The larger part of the meat supply is under very little 


” 


as 


Report of Committee on Intelligence and Education. 99 


inspection. A few states and municipalities have organized, 
somewhat tentatively, small meat inspection services. In many 
places, the authority of the veterinarian in this work is not recog- 
nized, and men of little or no training are appointed to occupy 
positions as meat inspectors. This means that the local meat 
inspection work will give unsatisfactory results and that it will 
not develop as it should. The failure of local meat inspection 
services “to make. good,’ and to develop, will, inevitably, have 
an effect that is not commonly Be guated upon the Federal meat 
inspection service. 

The cost of the Federal meat inspection service is paid by the 
individual citizens of the United States; the cost of the state and 
municipal meat inspection service is paid by the same individual 
citizens of the United States. To say that one is paid by the 
National government and the other by the State and municipal 
governments is to establish a ‘distinction that is not real for, 
in the end, all taxes, whether general or local, are paid by the 
people of the country. 

Pennsylvania has about one-twelfth of the population of the 
United States; therefore one-twelfth of the cost of the Federal 
meat inspection service, $250,000 a year, is paid by the people of 
Pennsylvania. The people residing in other states pay their share 
of the cost of the Federal meat inspection service in similar 
proportion. 

How can a given community, or a given individual, be expected 
to continue indefinitely to pay for the inspection of a part of the 
meat supply and to ignore the inspection of the remaining part? 
The individual, the community and the groups of individuals 
and communities that make up the nation must ultimately depart 
from such an illogical position and come to the conclusion that 
meat inspection is worth having or that it 1s not worth having. 
If it is worth having, then all of the meat must be inspected. If 
it is not worth having, there is no reason why that part of the 
supply that is prepared in one State for sale in another shall be 
inspected and the inspection of the remaining part ignored. This 
means that local meat inspection services must be developed to 
take care of the inspection of that part of the supply that is not 
inspected by the agents of the Federal government or, if this is 
not worth while, then it is not worth while to continue to spend 
large sums for the maintenance of the Federal meat inspection 
service. In other words, municipal, State and Federal meat in- 


100 Reports of Officers and Committees. 


spection services must prove their worth and be developed 
together, or they must fall together. To those of us who believe 
that meat inspection is of large sanitary importance, there can 
be no more important task than to assist in the development, along 
proper lines, of local meat inspection services. If such local meat 
inspection services are placed in incompetent hands and are 
developed along improper lines, or are not developed at all, 
then the end of the Federal meat inspection service is ordained. 

The Federal government has placed all positions of independ- 
ent responsibility in the meat inspection service in the hands of 
veterinarians, but it has engaged for duty in certain parts of the 
service a large number of men who are not veterinarians, but who 
are taken from the rank of practical butchers. To these men it 
has given the title of Mrar INSPECTOR, in contradistinction to 
their superiors in office who are known as VETERINARY INSPEC- 
Tors. This new classification and nomenclature has led to much 
confusion on the part of the public. There is in some places a 
common and natural impression to the effect that the meat inspec- 
tion work of the government is no longer conducted by veterin- 
arians—for are not the “‘meat inspectors” laymen? It is not 
recognized that the officials termed “ meat inspectors” are really 
meat inspectors only in the most limited sense, and that the im- 
portant technical work of meat inspection is not done by the so- 
called meat inspectors, but by the veterinary inspectors. In order 
that the confusion on this point, which is widespread, and which 
threatens to lead to serious consequences, may be removed, it is 
important that the official termed “meat inspector” shall be 
given some other and less confusing title; “assistant to the 
veterinary inspector,’ “ meat classifier’ or “ grader of meats.” 

Localities organizing meat-inspection services cannot be ex- 
pected to recognize the fine distinction under the present Federal 
nomenclature, between the office of veterinary inspector and meat 
inspector and thus the organization of local services on proper 
lines is hampered. 

On the other hand, the veterinary schools must prepare men 
not only for the important part of the work of meat inspec- 
tion—that based on a knowledge of pathology—but for every 
possible subdivision of the whole meat inspection field. 

The subject of dairy inspection is coming rapidly to the fore. 
There is likely to be in the near future as much (and very likely, 
more) development in the line of dairy inspection as in meat 


99 66 


> 


3 


Report of Committee on Intelligence and Education. 101 


inspection. Among veterinarians it is commonly accepted that the 
sanitary supervision of dairy farms and herds is naturally vet- 
erinary work. There is much to be said in favor of this view. 
Wholesome milk depends, in the first instance, upon the health 
of the cows that produce it, and upon the sanitation of their sur- 
roundings. So far as the health of cattle is concerned, veterin- 
arians are, of course, the natural experts, but in relation to the 
sanitation of dairy premises there is much difference in opinion 
and veterinarians ar@ycommonly accepted as the authorities in 
this field. The training that veterinarians receive in hygiene, their 
knowledge of the bacteriology of milk and of the sanitary sciences, 
ought to make them as conclusively authorities in dairy farm 
sanitation as they are with regard to the health of dairy cattle. 
But that this is not recognized is shown by the fact that under the 
recently developed plan for the sanitary inspection of the farms 
and herds producing milk for New York City (this inspection is 
to cost $160,000 a year), there is no special provision for the 
employment of veterinarians and, unless the plan has recently 
been materially revised, very few veterinarians will be employed 
in this work. These inspectors are to be practical dairymen and 
men trained in dairy schools. 

This important and rapidly developing field can be occupied 
by veterinarians only when it can be shown that men are thor- 
oughly trained in veterinary schools in work of this character, 
and when it can be shown that the training in this line that is 
given in veterinary schools is more complete and furnishes a 
technical equipment of higher quality than may be elsewhere 
obtained. In other words, if the veterinary profession is to be - 
given this work to do, the schools must greatly strengthen their 
courses in dairy farm sanitation and in milk hygiene. 

Much might be said as to the outlook for veterinary work in 
many lines related to “ animal husbandry.” There is much to be 
done in the development of the animal husbandry of the United 
States that involves veterinary knowledge but, in order that men 
trained as veterinarians may be given an opportunity to exercise 
their veterinary knowledge in this field, it is a prerequisite that 
they shall have as complete training along animal husbandry lines 
as is furnished in the best agricultural colleges. 

It is a trite saying that “a stream can rise no higher than its 
source,” and unquestionably this is true in relation to the profes- 
sions. No profession can rise higher than the schools in which 


102 Reports of Officers and Comnuttees, 


its members are trained, as these are the sources of the special 
knowledge, the grasp and the ideals of the profession. 

So long as men must go to institutions other than veterinary 
colleges to obtain the best attainable training in many of the 
fundamental subjects that enter into the veterinary sciences, the 
veterinary profession cannot be said to have a very secure hold 
on its field, and it cannot advance as it should. Moreover, it is 
in constant danger of losing part of the ground that it has 
already occupied. If the veterinary profession is to rank with 
other learned professions, the average of intelligence and of pro- 
fessional knowledge must be as high as the average intelligence 
and professional knowledge in the other professions. This means 
that the schools must be as good as the schools of medicine, 
law, engineering and agriculture. 

We must have good facilities for teaching men, unless we are 
to be satisfied with a lower standard for our profession than the 


standard that prevails in other professions. Such facilities can- 


not be provided without means. The amount of money that is 
required to equip and maintain a veterinary school on a basis 
equivalent to that of other professional and technical schools has 
already been indicated. The next question is how may this money 
be obtained? It is manifest that it cannot be obtained from 
tuition fees. A veterinary college maintained wholly by the fees 
of its students may do excellent work so far as it goes, but its 
field will ultimately be limited by what the students can afford 
to pay for. It has been found by experience that schools of medi- 
cine, law, engineering and agriculture, etc., and the general scien- 
tific and classical courses of the colleges and the universities of 
the country cannot be sustained by tuition fees alone. Higher 
education cannot be self-supporting. The college of medicine, for 
example, that is subsisted entirely by students’ fees cannot do 
its duty to its students. It cannot adequately train men for the 
responsibilities of the present-day physician. 

I have in mind a medical college that is carefully and economi- 
cally administered, that has 500 students, each paying an annual 
tuition fee of $200. This college receives the services of a large 
number of capable men at a minimum salary, in addition to 
specialists who devote all of their time to the college, and who 
are well paid. But the tuition fees fail to equal the current 
expenses of the college by from $25,000 to $35,000 a year. 


« 


Report of Committee on Intelligence and Education. 103 


Colleges of agriculture in the various States receive public 
funds for current expenses amounting to from $40,000 to $200,000 
a year. 

In the past, and to some extent now, unendowed veterinary 
colleges have given to their students much more than the students 
have paid for, through the public-spirited, generous contributions 
of time and effort by the teachers; but this sort of self-sacrifice 
cannot be expected to continue indefinitely.. In the long run 
the efficiency of a school will be in more or less direct proportion 
to the income of the school. 

Institutions of higher education in the United States derive 
their income, in excess of tuition fees, from three sources: from 
gifts from individuals, from the public funds of the States in 
which they are located, and from the Federal treasury. Thus far, 
veterinary schools have not appealed very successfully to benevo- 
lent individuals. One veterinary college in an eastern state has 
received contributions from individuals amounting to about 
$250,000. A newly-planned veterinary college in a central state 
4s said to have received a donation of from $200,000 to $300,000 
from a group of individuals interested in the live-stock and pack- 
ing industries. Not much more than one-half million dollars 
in all has, thus far, been received, or promised, to veterinary 
colleges from private sources. 

A number of States have taken some part in the development 
and promotion of veterinary knowledge by making appropriations 
for the equipment and maintenance of veterinary schools. The 
state of Pennsylvania, during the past two years, has appropriated 
$200,000 for the construction of a building for a veterinary school. 
The state of New York has appropriated $150,000 for the con- 
struction of a building for a veterinary school. The state of 
Ohio has appropriated $60,000 for a similar purpose, and a few 
other states have appropriated smaller amounts. The state of 
New York appropriates $30,000 annually for the support of the 
State Veterinary College. The state of Illinois has made a similar 
appropriation for this purpose. In addition to these, the states 
of Iowa, Washington and Colorado make small annual appro- 
priations for the support of veterinary education. Some other 
States support a certain amount of veterinary work in their land- 
grant colleges, the funds for which come in part from the States 
themselves and in part from the Federal government. 

The Federal government has done nothing directly for veterin- 


104 Reports of Officers and Committees. 


ary education. As has been stated, small appropriations of the 
Federal funds donated to land-grant colleges have in some in- 
stances been used to support a limited amount of veterinary work. 
Such veterinary work, however, has, in most cases, been carried 
- on in connection with agricultural experiment stations, or in 
courses arranged for agricultural students and cannot, therefore, 
be regarded as of moment in relation to the education of 
veterinarians, 

It is now seriously proposed to appropriate Federal public 
funds for the support of branch agricultural colleges and agricul- 
tural and industrial academies or high schools in the various States 
of the Union. This project, while it is young, has acquired con- 
siderable headway and is being strongly supported. 

The development of veterinary knowledge is of such immense 
importance to the United States that the veterinary profession 
is fully justified in asking Congress to include it in this scheme 
and to appropriate money for the support of veterinary schools. 
The losses from the disease of animals that ought to be prevented, 
and that we may reasonably expect to prevent in the future, 
amount to from $150,000,000 to $200,000,000 a year. Less than 
one percentum of this animal loss would be ample to support all 
the veterinary schools needed in the United States. 

Appropriations by Congress for this purpose should be so 
bestowed as to render the largest possible service to the country. 
To make an appropriation of $10,000. or $20,000 to each State 
would be equivalent to fostering the establishment of a large 
number of inadequately equipped, insufficiently maintained vet- 
erinary schools, which would cheapen and injure the profession 
and retard proper development. 

What we need in the United States is a sufficient number 
of schools of high class and not an excessive number of 
schools of low class. 

In order that there may be some assurance that Federal funds 
appropriated for this purpose would do the most good, it should 
be stipulated that anything given by the Federal government for 
this purpose shall be matched by an equal sum from other sources, 
that is, from the State in which the school is located, or from 
benevolent individuals. If, therefore, a school were able to raise 
$30,000 or $40,000 a year from local sources, and if it should 
receive a similar amount from the Federal government, it would 


by 


Report of Commuttee on Intelligence and Education. 105 


then be in position to do the kind of work that the veterinary 
profession so urgently needs. 

In view of the needs of the country and of the tremendous 
value of veterinary education to all of the people, in view of the 
precedent that has been established for the use of Federal funds 
for purposes similar to this (agriculture) and of the overflowing 
wealth of the National Treasury, it ought to be possible, by 
concerted effort, to obtain help from that source. 

Excepting in the case of a few institutions that are dishonest 
and that flagrantly violate the code of ethics, and that will be 
dealt with by the Association of Faculties, it is idle to talk of the 
inefficiency of the veterinary schools as they exist to-day. Most 
of them are as efficient as it is possible for them to be under 
existing circumstances. | 

The veterinary profession cannot reach the position of useful- 
ness, importance and dignity that it should occupy until largely 
increased funds for educational purposes are supplied from some 
sources outside of the profession, and the most likely source is 
all of the people of the United States as represented by the 
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 


WAU 


2 077687231 


ie 


